| ATLANTA – More than 131,000 Georgians turned out on Monday for the first day of early voting ahead of this year’s midterm elections, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported Tuesday. That’s 85% higher than the number who showed up to vote on the first day of early voting before the last midterm elections four years ago and fell just short of the 136,739 who cast ballots as early voting kicked off ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The huge turnout wasn’t surprising considering Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock are on the ballot, along with Georgia’s congressional delegation. All 236 seats in the General Assembly also are being contested. Democrats in particular have been urging their supporters to take advantage of early voting in light of changes to state election laws the Republican-controlled legislature passed this year that put new restrictions on voting by absentee ballot in the name of restoring voting integrity. Statewide, reports of long lines Monday were minimal, although there were some reports of voters waiting in line for more than 30 minutes at a few popular voting locations in metro areas, Raffensperger said. There will be at least 17 days of early voting throughout the state. All 159 counties will have an early voting Saturday this weekend. The final day of early voting will be Nov 4, the last Friday before Election Day Nov. 8. To find early voting locations and hours in your county, visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page. This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation. |